Toy fort



H. E. coATEs.

TOY FORT.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 2o, I9I9.

1,348,086, Patented .my 27,'192IL fr y WITNESSES lliI VEN T0? ATTOHl/EYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY. EDWARD contras,y or .sacan/immo, CALIEORNIA.,

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented, July 27 1920.

Application Lfiled-November 20, 1919. Serial No. 339,409.

, representing a Agunner is adapted to emerge upon the tripping ofatrigger controlling 'the mechanism, the arrangement being such that asthe ligure emerges the gun will be automatically 1li-red to give theeect of havingbeen fired by the gunner previously concealedin the fort;Y

bjects ofthe invention'are tol'provide means to insure the emergence ofthe figure and the firing of the gun; to provide a gun of the type inwhich a plug-is forced lout underthe pressure due tothe forward-movement lof the plunger to produce Aa sound simulating an explosion;and to time the release of the plungerl with the emerging or the gure. I

Morespeciic objects ofthe invention are to provide novel andconvenientmeans for the ready setting of the gun lplunger and 'for the trippingVof the trigger, the trigger Vcontrol providing 'for releasing the `sameeither by a vpull on vthe string `at the-:rear

of the fort or by the yimpact-of a ball orV other projectile against thetrigger at the front of the-fort;y

Reference is to `be had totheaccompanying drawings forming apart of thisspeciicatiom it being-understoodthat 'the drawings are merelyillustrative o''one example of the invention. v I

Figure 1 fis' a side elevation 'of a toy fort embodying my inventionwith afigur-e representing a gunner lconcealed Vwithin the n fort' l -2is-a perspective view' with the figure in the emerged position and thegun plunger -released 4about to move forwardlyt'o discharge or dislodgethe plug;

Fig. 3 `is tt/longitudinal vertical section Vofthe toy fort' with theligure concealed and the mechanism set;

Fig. lis a plan view `with the parts inthe Vpositions shownfin Fig. 3,portions being broken away and others-in section.

In carrying out 4my invention 1n practice a box-like structure 10 1sprovided 'which is given an appearance tofsimulate alfort. lOn theffort, at the front, is mounted a gun-11 and a vertically swingablefigure 1-2 isv mounted tov be swungto, a position/below the top-.of thefort within the latter orito emerge. The gunis ofthatstype in which a.cork or like plug 13 closes Lthe muzzle of the gun andits tightly torequirea -force to dislodge it. Usually the plug will be secured to one.end of a string'l of suitable length, the op- -posite end of the stringbeing fixedly secured f as at -15zto anyXed .part of the structure.

The yfig-ure- 12 will ordinarily Irepresent a gunner. and lit is mountedon atransverse xro'clrable. shaft. 16. A torsion `spring `17 coiledabout the shaftis secured atoneend to the figure and secu-red at itsopposite end to anyfixed portion of the Vstructure,:where- -by inthelowering of the figure toapproxi.- mately .the yhorizontalposition shownIin- Fig. 3 to` be concealed within the fort, the spring will b e placedunder tension and willv serve,

upony releasel of the ligure, .to throw the latterthrough an angle Atoproject it :through 'the top of the fortto extend abovethe latter in therear -of `the gun` as if manning the latter.. In ,the lowered positionthe :figure is restrained by a trigger 2O which is provided with a notch19x adaptedltoreeeive a transverse bar 18 or like-elementl-.on thefgure,said bar being represented as .carried by fthe hands of thefigureyin the illustrated example.y v'Ihetrigger is in Ythe .form .of anelongated rod or bar v'having lguided movementr in a keeper l21 in thebottoml of .the

forti In the gun a-plunger 22 is lmovable'and provided withY ahead 23.snugly Vfitting ,the

barrel, a compressionspring 24 normally ltending :to force l-theplunger. forwardly. Said plunger extends through. the breech of the gunand has a forwardly facing shoulder 25,y the plunger being lpermitted`suficient vertical playfor ythe shouldery 25 to *enga-ge the f rear end`of the gun, wherebyfto vrestrain the plunger from Vforward movementwith the spring `24 under compression.

The rear end lof the plunger. @is eenlarged as at 26 in any Ysuitableform 4to limitthe .forwardrmovement of the plunger under. the action ofthe spring. In order to provide a convenient means'for the readysetting' of the plunger with-fthe spring under compression, Il employaflever`27 fulcrumed at its lowerend as at 28 .by any suitable means onthe bottom of the `fort, and vat its upper end through the top of thefort through any suitable slot or opening provided "for the purpose.The'lever, when the plunger is in the rearward position, rests against alat-V eral projection 29 on the plunger, Vwhereby in the forwardmovement of the latter the leverV will bel carried Vforwardly inposition to retract the plunger when the leverv is:

.opposite end against a pin 32 or the like on the trigger 2O,V so thatwhen the triggeris engaged with the bar 18 the spring 30 will be 'placedunder tension. Means may be provided for variously tripping the trigger.In

Vthe preferred form Vof my invention, the

forward end'of the trigger extendsthrough the front of the fort and isprovided with a target 83 in theform of a disk which is adapted toreceive the impact of a ball 34:

or like projectile to give a rearward movement tothe trigger' to releasethe bar 18. In order to operate the trigger from the rear of the fort, aspring :is connectedat one end to the trigger and extends to the back ofthe fort where it is provided with a ball 36 or other finger-hold toexert a pull on the string.` The trigger head is beveled above the notch19 to causethe automatic setting of the trigger by theV lowering of thefigure 12. l

The top of thei` fort for a large'portion thereof, as indicated at 10,is fixed while a cover or trapv door 10b is'disposed over the igure 12,covering the same, and is hinged as at 10c to freely rise with theupward pressure of the figurel against said door. From the abovedescription it will be seen that with the plunger of the gun set by thelever 27 as in Fig. 3, with the trigger to be tripped either by impactagainst the disk 33 or by a pull on the string 35, the iigurewill throwVthe door through an angle of'180o to lie on the top of the fort, thefigure emerging through the opening, and as the figure approaches theupright position in the rearof the gun, the arm-18 or otherpredetermined member moving with the figure will engage the gun plunger22 Yto vdisengage its shoulder 25 and permit the spring 24 to throw theplunger forwardly, thereby compressing the'air within ythe gun barrel inthe rear of the plug 18 to' dislodge the latter.-

I wouldjstate in .conclusion that whilethe illustratedexampleconstitutes a practical embodiment of my invention,v I do not limitmyself strictly to the mechanical details herein illustrated, sincemanifestly the same can be considerably varied without departure fromthe spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I'Iaving thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent:

` 1.'A toy fort including a structure, a gun mounted thereon, a figuremovably mounted to be given a positionbelow the top of the fort to beconcealedr or to emerge therefrom to simulate a gunner manning the gun,means to move said figure to the emerged position, meansvto cause thedischarge of the gun with the emergenceof the figure, and means torestrain or release the figure.

' 2. A toy fort including a hollow structure, a gun mounted thereon, aiigure swing-Y ably mounted at the rear of the gun to, assume a loweredposition within thefort or a raised position adjacent to the gun, springmeans tending to swing the figure to the raised position, a hinged doorYadapted to overlie the igure in the lowered position and'to be raised bythe figure with the swinging of the latter, means operable by the figureto cause the discharge of the gun, and a trigger adapted to restrainsaid iig-A ure in the lowered position or to release theV figure. v Y.

. .3. .A toy fort including a hollow structure, a gun mounted thereon, agure swingably mounted at the rear of the gun to Vassume a loweredposition. within the .fort or Va raised position adjacent to the gun,spring means tending to swing the figure to the raised position, aspring-pressed plunger operating in the gun andadapted toV be held inthe retracted position with the spring under compression, means on the.figure i adapted to trip the gun plunger with the rising of the figure,and trigger-controlled means to restrain the figure or.` to release the11. A toy fort-including a hollow struc-l ture, a gun mounted thereon, afigure swingably mounted at the rear of the gun to assume a loweredposition within the fort or V-a raised position adjacent to the gun,means tending to swing the figure to the raised position, aspring-pressed Vplunger extending .into the gun and adapted to berestrained in the retracted position with the. spring under springpressure, manually operable on the front of the trigger adapted toreceive the impact of a projectile for releasing the ligure.

6. 1n a toy fort, a figure swingable from a lowered to a raisedposition, means tending to swing the figure to a raised position, atrigger slidable longitudinally of the fort and adapted to engage saidfigure in the lowered position to restrain the same against upwardmovement, said trigger extending 10 through the front of the fort, and atarget on the front of the trigger adapted to receive the impact of aprojectile for releasing the figure; together with a pull-stringattached to the trigger and extendin rear- 15 wardly through the rearend of the ort.

` HARRY EDWARD ooATEs.

